Sen. Kintner retweets into controversy again; mocking some in Women’s March

Sen. Bill Kintner (in the foreground) declines to line up with other senators to shake Gov. Ricketts’ hand after his State of the State address/Photo by Carli Luca, KLIN

Gov. Pete Ricketts has renewed his call for state Sen. Bill Kintner to step down in light of yet another controversy erupting around the senator.

Kintner has been harshly criticized for re-tweeting a Tweet which mocked participants in the Women’s March in Washington who used a vulgarity President Trump used in a 2005 video.

Ricketts says his stance on Kintner hasn’t changed.

“With regard to Sen. Kintner, I haven’t read anything with regard to his tweets,” Ricketts tells reporters who asked for his reaction. “My previous comments with regard to his status still stands and it’s really up to the Legislature to manage their own people and take action with their own members. They’re a separate branch of government.”

Ricketts called on Kintner, a Republican from Papillion, to resign after it came to light the senator had used a state-owned laptop computer to engage in cyber-sex during a business trip. Ricketts confirms he still believes Kintner should resign.

The senator has refused to resign.

State senators took to the floor of the Legislature Monday to express their criticism of Kintner.

Sen. Matt Hansen of Lincoln told colleagues Kintner’s action is offensive and showed little regard for the problem of sexual assault. He said he debated engaging Kintner to ask him whether he thought this Tweet was appropriate.

“But, instead, I just wanted to make sure I got up for the record (to) make sure people know that I do condemn those comments and look forward to an opportunity where we can have a fuller discussion on Sen. Kintner and his behavior in this Legislature,” Hansen said.